Like a lot of people, I love the look of candles. I don’t collect them or anything, but on occasion they do add a nice touch and help to make things feel a little special.

Besides, the kids love blowing them out.

The trouble is that candles aren’t terribly safe for small children. My son used to love to play with one, unlit, and there was no way I was going to light it while he was so fascinated. No point in chancing a burn, after all. He was perfectly content pretending to blow it out.

I first saw flameless candles in person at my sister’s wedding. They used the tealight size so that the candles could be near a gauzy cloth background. They looked lovely, and I’m sure you all know why they didn’t want real candles there.

This flameless candle website offers a good variety, including a flameless window candle. They’re very pretty. Not precisely like real candles, but not too poor an imitation either. I like that I don’t have to worry about the candles getting too hot to handle. My mother kept some of the tealight candles from the wedding, and the kids loved that they could turn them on and off themselves.

These may not be a full substitute for real candles, but they’re great for when you don’t want to be dealing with the possible hazards. You can place them anywhere and not worry that the flame is going to start a fire.